PPP hopeful of wining 7 Senate seats in Sindh

KARACHI - Political maneuvering is gaining momentum in Sindh as the Senate election dates approaches nearer. A total of 11 Senate seats in the province will fall vacant on March 11, out of which the ruling coalition partners, the PPP and MQM, are expected to bag eight and three seats respectively. Sources said that Awami National Party (ANP), which has only two seats in Sindh Assembly, was striving hard to get its Senate candidate elected from Sindh with the support of PPP and as a quid pro quo, the party would offer a Senate seat to the PPP from NWFP Assembly where it enjoyed majority. President ANP Sindh, Shahi Syed, is contesting for the Senate seat from Sindh while ANP has offered its support to the PPP candidate in NWFP. PPP is expected to give top priority to the candidates for Senate seats, who are serving as federal ministers or advisors. It wants the victory of Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance, Shaukat Tarin, who hails from Mardan and Interior Ministry Adviser Rehman Malik from NWFP. From Sindh, Federal Law Minister Farooq Naek and Dr. Asim are the top contenders from PPP while party's Secretary General Nafees Siddiqui and Faisal Raza Abidi are also in the run for the upper house. According to sources, the 11 senators from Sindh, who will retire in March, include Asif Jatoi of (PML-Q), Chairman Senate Muhammadmian Soomro (PML-Q), Nisar Memon (PML-Q), Bibi Yasmeen Shah (PML-Q), Babar Khan Ghauri of (MQM), Abbas Komeli (MQM) and Dr. Muhammad Ali Brohi (MQM), Muhammad Enver Baig (PPP), Rukhsana Zubairi (PPP), Farooq H. Naek (PPP) and an independent Muhammad Amin Dadabhoy. In the last Senate elections, PML-Q had bagged four seats from Sindh including Asif Jatoi, Muhammadmian Soomro, Nisar Memon, Bibi Yasmeen Shah (on women reserved seat) and an independent Muhammad Amin Dadabhoy. All of these seats may go to the PPP candidates in upcoming Senate elections. PPP will retain its three seats in the province and is expected to bag four more seats, previously occupied by PML-Q members, owing to its majority in the provincial assembly. The PPP is also expected to clinch the reserved seat for women in Sindh that will be vacated after the retirement of Bibi Yasmeen Shah.